Friday, August 15, 2014

I was one of 14 women attending a workshop with Louise Cutting and Sandy Miller in Winter Park, Florida last weekend. The first thing we do is take 21 specific measurements so that patterns can be easily checked and you know where they need to be altered. Since all things change, she suggests re-measuring yourself at least once a year. She limits the number of people at these workshops so everyone can get hands on attention all 3 days. We all have different shapes and sizes and, because of the expert fitting and muslining, there were some beautifully fitted and styled garments. Louise shows you how to place and match motifs, what alterations should be done and advises on the length and proportions. You can also work as late at night as you want to while you are there.

I had several goals that were all accomplished. They included some fine tuning/fitting/tweaking of patterns I had already sewn and some styling and restyling advice. I brought this Eskandar linen duster so that Louise and Sandy could advise on the best way to restyle it and save the great motifs. It's an Eskandar size 1 but was too wide and too long for my small frame. Here is what it looked like before.

The primitive motifs are beautifully matched at the shoulders and front so she advised to keep the front band, back neck and shoulders intact (the entire garment is sewn with french seams) and lay the size small Of The Moment pattern (view A) right front with the shoulder dot at the intersection of the band and the shoulder seam, omitting the front extension. I decided to add 4.5" to the length of the Of The Moment jacket, and after comparing the sleeves, I just recut the cap and width using the OTM sleeve pattern, making sure to have that little extension that allows for the turn of the cloth at the hem.

So here's how it turned out. I'm wearing it with a silk jersey Of The Moment top and dark brown My Swing Set pants that I brought so they could check the placement and length of the darts. Louise had only seen the photos of me in the pants and thought the darts might be too long. When she saw the pants on me in person, she thought they were fine and no changes were necessary.

The front of this Of The Moment jacket is the same as this black/white linen jacket Louise Cutting is wearing in this photo taken at the American Sewing Guild conference earlier in the month. Her jacket has the OTM long sleeves and my restyled jacket has the sleeve length from the Eskandar duster. She added piping and a band of black linen at the hem to lengthen and add a design element. Lots of possibilities.

About Me

I enjoy styling, creating, sewing, and updating my wardrobe with ideas and details I find in unique designer collections and garments.
Another thing you need to know about me is that I hate to write about sewing. So this blog is basically a synopsis of what I've been up to with a few photos and links to Flickr of more photos and details in the captions. I'll tell you the size I made, but I won't be documenting alterations that nobody cares about because you aren't me, nor detailing techniques from the copyrighted pattern instructions I follow (buy the pattern if you want to know how it went together). I prefer to spend my time creating things I'm proud to wear, and believe me, I have things to do and places to wear them. I have one good Designer II Viking machine and a Babylock serger. My sewing space is simple and I only sew with quality fabric. You can see from the details that I don't do "sloppy sewing". My fine sewn garments last because they are well put together and I am the laundry queen when it comes to caring for them.